ain't it a pain?
by Calligraphy Ink
Summary: define : carry a torch : v. / 1920s: to have a crush on someone. - Emilio's torch was going to light someone's house on fire, but then the bearcat stole it. [ a The Blind Griffin fic, MC/Emilio (Rings of Promise). ]


**A/N:**

 **Disclaimer – I don't own the rights to the otome game/visual novel The Blind Griffin (Asphodel Quartet does), and I'm not making a monetary profit from writing this.**

 **Just two MC/Emilio scenes that I imagined while playing through to the Rings of Promise ending (I didn't write in a real name for her however, since the player can name her anything; hopefully that doesn't get too confusing).**

 **And really, if you** _ **don't**_ **know what The Blind Griffin is and/or have never played it, you need to get it. Right now. It's an amazingly great visual novel with stunning art, characterization comparable to full-fledged novels, fantastic representation, and very nice music. (: Which all gets especially impressive once you take into account the fact that it was a NaNoRenO project. Also, it's virtually free (there's a pay-what-you-want system for the generous player). So go and check it out!**

* * *

 _ **Emilio**_

The dame goes upstairs to leave for the exam with Marie, but I don't follow her out, staying in the lab instead. I don't want to watch her leave the bar for what might be the last time. I want my last memory of her to be here, in the lab, smiling at me and conjuring her beautiful lights for practice.

 _Dios mío_. I really have it bad for the bearcat.

I stay sitting on the bench, slumped over the table, for what feels like the longest time. And then I hear footsteps coming down the hall. I look up to see Gio walk into the room.

"Hey, Emi," he says.

I don't respond, only turning back to look at the beakers and jars in front of me. Some of them still flicker with the last remnants of her magic.

Gio comes over and sits down on the bench next to me, slapping a hand on my shoulder. "You like the lady, don't you." It wasn't a question.

I jerk my head over to look at him defensively, feeling my cheeks heat up a little. "What'dya mean by that?"

"Good at teaching you might be, Emi, but subtle you ain't." Gio chuckles and ruffles my hair like he used to, back when he was still my mentor.

I scowl at him. He knows I don't like it.

"She's what got you moping around down here?" he continues.

I sigh and rest my elbows on the table, slumping over again so I can stare forward instead of having to look at Gio. I touch my cheek for a moment, where it's still hot from how red it is. The dame had given me a quick peck there, just before she'd left; it'd left me stunned and almost as red as Alex last New Year. "Kinda," I admit quietly. "I'm just... worried. What if I didn't teach her enough and she fails the exam?"

"She'll be fine, Emi. She's a great magician. You know that."

"But what if?" I hate how even I can hear the anguish in my voice. "I just have this bad feeling in my stomach. I was such a crummy mentor to her for so long. If she fails – loses her magic and memory – it's on me. I..."

If she fails, I know that I'll never see her or her magic again. The smile that could just light up her face like nothing else... gone. And her memories of the Blind Griffin... me... Even the thought of never seeing her scowl or get angry with me ever again makes me feel sick inside. I can't deal with this. The sheer terror inside me of losing my bearcat almost makes me regret ever even meeting her.

"I... I don't know what I'll do," I finish, squeezing my eyes shut and lowering my head to the table. I don't want Gio to see me like this.

He puts an arm around me in a small hug. I know he's trying to comfort me, but it doesn't make me feel better at all. It only makes me feel worse, knowing that I've confessed my soul to someone. But I'm too scared for the dame to be angry.

"Hey, now," Gio says. "You should be glad the doll's not around to hear you say those things or she'd give you a good ol'slap. Believe in her, Emi. She's gonna pass, you know that."

"But what if she doesn't?" I say again. I look up from the table just in time to see the light die in the last practice jar. It feels like an omen. "If she loses her magic... forgets about the Blind Griffin and all of us..."

"If she forgets about you."

I can only nod, staring blankly at the wall.

"You know it'd be against Council law to tell her anything after that. They'd boot you out the same as her maybe."

"Yeah, I know," I whisper. "But I..." I look down at my hand, the one she'd held earlier. I can almost feel her palm, warm and callused from years of laundry work, still pressed against mine. "I dunno if I could deal, if I saw her out on the streets not... not being _her_." I couldn't see her gone, when I know that she really does... feel the same way.

Gio sighs. "Turn around, Emi. Look at me."

I do as he says, except for the last part. I just can't bring up enough effort to lift my eyes up, so I stare bleakly into my lap instead.

"What you're saying ain't gonna happen, trust me. She'll be passing with flying colors, you'll see. But if I'm wrong somehow... Look up at me, Emi."

This time, his voice offers no argument. I look up at him.

Gio points at his chest with a finger. "Listen to your heart. The Council might make all the rules, but they're just a bunch of old fogies anyway. For knowing what's right or wrong..." He jabs the same finger into my chest sharply, as if to get the point across. "The answers are always in here."

I look down for a moment before smiling at him. "I get'cha, Gio."

He smiles back, wider than any I could manage right now. "Good." Then he scratches the back of his head. "Just... keep this between you and me, all right? I don't think Marie'd be too pleased about me encouraging rule-breaking."

I smile again. "Sure."

 **. . .**

I'm sitting at the bar, alone – Gio's probably told the others to leave me be, since they're all a good ways away from me at their own table – when I hear the wall above our heads groan distantly in movement. I immediately sit up, eyes darting straight to the staircase nearby.

Marie comes down first, an unreadable expression on her face, as she looks first at me and then everybody else. I ignore her, searching desperately behind her at the stairs.

Just when my heart feels like it's about to crack in two, I see my bearcat coming down with the biggest grin on her face. I can't help but smile in relief, my mouth spread so wide it hurts, and I jump up from my seat. Seeing Marie stifle herself at the sight of me, I realize that there's no way it took the dame that long to come down the stairs unless she was told to 'take her time'.

"I passed, Emi," she says, that smug grin still on her face.

Until it's replaced by squealing as I grab my bearcat up in a hug so tight I lift her off the floor and spin her around in sheer joy. I don't even care when I see the others smile knowingly out of the corner of my eyes; I was her mentor, so what's it matter if I hug her some?

"Let me go, Emi!" she demands, laughing.

"Right now?" I tease, still spinning her around. "Because I can do that, Bearcat."

"No!"

When I finally do put her back down, she punches me in the arm hard enough to hurt, but I don't care about that either – I'm just happy that she's here to punch me for something at all. "What was that for?" she asks, face pink.

In response, I hug her again and stay that way for a while, just to make sure that she's _really_ here. I close my eyes as her arms wrap around me too, breathing in the smell of her shampoo with the massive smile still on my face. "Just relieved that you passed," I whisper by her ear before drawing back to see her face, my hands still on her shoulders.

The dame's only reddened in the cheeks even more, and she grins at me. Her arms are still around my waist. "Why? Because now everyone knows you're a good mentor?" she guesses. "Finally on the top rung?"

"Nah," I say, and I'm surprised at my complete sincerity.

She blinks in surprise too, eyebrows climbing to the top of her head.

I bring my face closer to hers until our foreheads are nearly touching; I'm just barely taller than her, a nod to how short both of us are. Finally, I manage to say softly the right thing for once: "Because it means you came back."

Her breathing gets a little ragged as she stares up at me with shocked eyes, but she doesn't move away.

Though I'm so much in love with this dame that I was nearly in fits of terror imagining her gone, I can't summon up the confidence to take the next step and kiss her; how could I, anyway, having been such a pill to her as much as I've been? Neither can she, I suppose – kiss me, that is – since we stay like that for what feels like the longest time, our foreheads pressed against the other's and just staring into each other's eyes.

Finally, she asks softly, "Cash or check?"

I resist the urge to roll my eyes, but only barely. Instead, I whisper, "Still not givin' me the icy mitt, Bearcat? That's a surprise."

"I might want to keep you around."

"Check, then."

Someone starts clapping, the sudden, sharp sound as loud as thunder in my ears, and the moment vanishes as we both realize that everyone else has been watching us the entire time. We let go of each other in a hurry, my face growing as red as a raspberry as I repeat the words _"pretend that didn't happen"_ in my head like a mantra. Bearcat's face doesn't look too far behind mine in color.

"Finally!" Viv's smiling widely. "'Bout time somethin' happened."

Marie shakes her head at Viv's outburst, but she's beaming at us almost as brightly. Alex and Gio glance at each other before they express completely opposite reactions – Alex looks away from us, his frown twitching at the corners, while Gio gives me a wink and a grin.

"Dry up, Viv," I grumble at her, crossing my arms.

She only laughs.

"All right, everyone," Marie says before anyone else can toss in their two cents. "Why don't we have a party to celebrate our new coven member? That is, if you still plan on joining us, dear." She winks at the dame.

"Of course!"

"Copacetic. I've already ordered some special catering, as it happens..."


End file.
